<p>Hello, I am a high school senior applying to Princeton undergraduate, mathematics major.</p>
<p>My GPA is 3.8 UW and 4.1 W.
Our school does not rank, but my GPA is not outstanding at all compared to the people in our school who applies to Princeton. Among the 20+ applicants from our school, I'm pretty sure I'm ranked at 15+.
Still, my other numbers are pretty decent..
SAT I : 2290 CR 700 M 800 W 790
SAT II: 3200 MIIC 800 PHY 800 CHEM 800 BIO-M 800
AMC: 144 AIME: 12
..and my EC is full of diverse activities. The list is on my other posts, but my point is not how great my ECs are. My question is: HOW MUCH DO PRINCETON LOOK FOR GPA SCORES?? I've seen the "Princeton RD class of 2012" thread, and the accepted ones all had near-perfect GPA. Should I just give up? I probably won't give up, but still, I need some honest opinion here.</p>
<p>I don't think anyone else in your school has EVER had AMC/AIME scores that high. I think a school like Princeton would value that level of ability more than half-letter differences in grades.</p>
<p>First of all, 3.8 is not bad. Second, your AMC/AIME scores more than make up for it. Be sure to proof read your essays--I couldn't help but notice the rather obvious grammatical mistake in "HOW MUCH DO PRINCETON LOOK FOR GPA SCORES??". If you can't conjugate a verb, adcoms will be reluctant to admit you, no matter how good you are at math.</p>
<p>Princeton looks at EVERYTHING
Why would you give up? Who cares what the class of 2012 had...this is your time, and you've done your best, so just relax, apply and wait for the decision. I'm sure you'll be fine :).
Please don't give up</p>
<p>I believe the generalized importance placed upon GPA and rank is to see whether you are studious or not. I know a lot of "geniuses" who doze off in class, don't turn in homework, phone in projects, etc ... but are so darn smart that they post the sorts of testing numbers you have. This is not to say that this is your story ... I don't know you from a hole in the ground. That being said, adcoms don't know you, either, so they tend to look for patterns and "types." Genius "types" with low(ish) GPAs and rankings are sometimes less than successful in a highly competitive academic environment because they have never had to "answer the bell" and get their act into gear and work hard because they've never been that challenged before. Thus, the question remains, once that bell goes off, will they be able to answer it or will they go back to playing Super Smash Brothers?</p>
<p>ALLLLL that being said, there is no reason you shouldn't apply to P'ton. What I would recommend is that you try to convey your passion and work ethic on you app, as well as discuss the need for that to come out in your recs.</p>
<p>a) congratulations on your AMC and AIME scores, which are very good, (I'm a math coach, and none of the students I coach have reached that level yet.) </p>
<p>and </p>
<p>b) the suggestion that you should make sure to improve and check your English grammar. I suppose English is not your native language, but it is the language of instruction at Princeton, and EVERY student at Princeton has to do independent research and a lot of writing in English. I was just at the Princeton information session in my city tonight. Princeton considers everything in an application file, and doesn't a strict rule about G.P.A. or class rank or anything else. Princeton looks at how you challenge yourself--one way you should challenge yourself is by improving your English writing. You have enough of a chance to make it worth your while to apply to Princeton. Good luck.</p>